Post Christmas check up

Hello my lovelies,
  Well did you all survive the hustle bustle? Did you take a moment to enjoy the traditions and time with loved ones, to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas? Oh I do hope so and I hope your mind is full of new beautiful memories! It turned out to be a very quiet Christmas for me and my hubby, a day we spent together at home. Usually we head to my nieces house where we spend the day with loved ones, but this year my niece and her family were sick with the flu so there was a change in plans, I was sad but it turned out to be a lovely day none the less.
   Now it might have been a quiet time for us, but there was plenty going on with the little peeps.
It seems Dr. Valentine finally bought Victoria that little dog she wanted for Christmas and she just can't thank him enough, not to mention she thinks he looks so handsome now that he grew a beard and is sporting that new outfit she bought him for Christmas ( new Conrad and ginger the dog were Christmas presents from hubby )

The other animals aren't sure what they think of this new hair ball that has showed up and now it seems they have to share the humans and the food with it! Elizabeth of course is totally smitten.

Abigail the house keeper just shakes her head and thinks to herself that this is just what this house needs, something else for her to take care of  besides the bird, the fish, the kittens, Dr. Valentines dog buster and the endless plants Victoria drags home! She sighs out loud.

Meanwhile at the Whitman house it seems Joseph has finally made it home from his rather long business trip and he and Sarah are having a quiet moment together in the library while he tells her all about his trip ( Joseph was a pre- Christmas gift from hubby)

Of course Joseph came home bearing some lovely gifts for his family, one of which was this beautiful dollhouse for Sarah ( a hallmark ornament I bought some time ago from the flea market )

Sarah was completely thrilled and immediately put the furnishings in it!

Maid is new and was bought pre-Christmas also.

Of course Sarah had a surprise for Joseph also, it seems she has hired men to start work on the new bathroom- this used to be Alexandra the daughters room, but she moved to the babys room and the baby has moved downstairs by the kitchen with nanny ( don't have nanny doll yet ) The bathroom is not finished yet but work is coming right along ( furniture is bespaq and oh so lovely ) still need toilet and dressing table and accessories.

Sarah made some pillows for Alexandra's  bed and Papa brought home a lovely cage with the promise to take her to buy a bird of her choice

Papa brought home a lovely bear for the baby.

Meanwhile the staff prepare dinner to celebrate Josephs return home ( new cook and scullery maid )

The butler checks to make sure the table is set just right ( new butler )

mean while over at the Ideal house, Patti and Pete can't figure out why Tammy is having so many nightmares about the new jack in the box the twins got for Christmas ( new toy )

 OOH that Tommy is so naughty, scaring his sister like that- BROTHERS!

Well it seems the little gray house has been bought and the new resident will be moving in soon.

Penelope is a famous Prima ballerina from royal descent, she has traveled the world dancing, but these days she teaches young girls. ( Penelope is a Ethel Hicks doll and is only 2 inches tall, she was also a Christmas gift from hubby, she is so tiny and perfectly detailed ! )

And what exactly has Celestine been doing you ask? Well she has been spending lots of time in front of the mirror admiring her special Christmas dress, that she bought for her self 

Celestine, I thought you were going to buy gifts for everyone with that money?

Well I thought about it Darling, but then I wouldn't have had enough money to buy myself this fabulous dress, yes?

hmmm...Well there you have it folks :-)

Till next time ,

Love and blessings to you all,

Teresa and Celestine

P.S.

Sorry these pictures are so blurry, not sure what happened, will try to do better next time :-(

Merry Christmas

Here's wishing you all a very Merry Christmas from my home to yours!
Teresa

Just Hello and a video!

Hello Folks,
    Are you busy, busy, busy? I know this is a season that can be quite hectic, but I do so hope you are slowing down every once in a while just to take it all in and smell the roses so to speak- or maybe the pine? Any how this is just a quick drop in to say hello and share 2 more of my favorite dollhouse videos with you. Here's hoping you are all having a lovely Christmas season! Love and blessings to you all,
Teresa

Simple Things

Hi Everyone,
      Well, I told ya'll I was going to pull together a few simple decorations and simple it is, just one little tree

My husband and I just didn't feel up to re - arranging the garage to get the attic stairs down and then hauling it all back up there after new years. This little tree was just sitting in the garage because I use it for other holidays and these hand made ornaments, because of their more fragile nature, were in my closet, so viola... easy!! Now I adore Christmas and can never let it pass without at least some decorating, I mean after all God gave us the greatest gift the world has ever known... A savior... Jesus!!  If that doesn't deserve celebrating I don't know what does!

I love the Idea that some women made these ornaments either for someone special or for her own Christmas tree. I have a Christmas tree book that showed a tree done entirely in these beaded ornaments. The gentlemen stated that they had been gifts every year from his mother, who had made them for all her children, After I saw that picture, I decided I had to have some of these and since no one in my family was making them, it was off to e-bay to search where I found them in abundance!

As I was placing these ornaments on the tree, I started reminiscing about the first tree I ever recall decorating by myself. I was about 7 or 8 yrs. old and some of my best friends were the 2 little boys who lived across the street, Ricky and Dwayne, their family was friends with my family and remained so all through our growing up yrs.

Well we had what we considered to be our secret fort in the woods ( really just a big hole in the ground with bushes growing all around it, but it worked for us kids! ) and that year I decided to make us a Christmas tree, so the boys got busy and broke me off a branch of some bush ( not pine ) and I didn't have a stand or a bucket so we just stuck it in the dirt! Of course a Christmas tree needs ornaments and as soon as I voiced this need the boys offered me their......wait for it.......Yep,

Army men!! Hee Hee

Oh I was so proud of that Christmas tree and so were they, because after all it was their army men! :-)

So you see sometimes simple really is best! 

So silly!

Did you all have a good weekend? I hope so, my husband took me to Renningers flea market this weekend and I bought these 2 orchids

Phaleanopsis

Dendrobium,

Hope I spelled those names right, if not ya'll probably know what I mean.

I couldn't resist since she was selling them for 3.00 and 5.00 dollars, such a deal.

Any ways that's about all the news from my little corner ( Have I been rambling on? ) Thanks for visiting with me and now I guess we better check on Celestine 

Well what in the world is going on here? ... Umm Celestine are you whispering sweet nothings in the

husband's ear? 

Well somebody has to get us some money to go shopping darling, no?

OH MY!! she's so shameless, I tell ya, but

maybe she's on to something, yes? ;-)

Well till next time, Love and blessings to you all,

Teresa and Celestine

Season's : A time to mend

Well Hello Folks,
    Are you decking the halls and haunting the malls yet? Maybe you happen to be one of those really organized people who had all your shopping done before Thanksgiving? At any rate I do hope that you are enjoying the festivities. I'm afraid I'm getting a late start this year, you see I've been nursing a much beloved pet back to health for about the last month. My little dog Tiffany, who's 14yrs. old and has been with me since she was 3 months old developed some kind of  mystery illness, she coughed and coughed, ran fever, and lost weight. After blood tests and 2 rounds of antibiotics, she was still sick. I finally went with my gut and persuaded the vet to give us an anti- histamine and I'm happy to say we are finally seeing results! Yeah! Any of you who are animal lovers will understand how upsetting it is to see them really sick. Anyways, I thought I would pop in and say hello and share a couple videos with you. These are a couple of my favorite dollhouse videos, so hope you find them interesting. I'm going to see if I can pull together some simple Christmas decorations, after all this is my favorite holiday!! We'll check in with the little peeps next time, till then,
Love and blessings to you all,
Teresa

Seasons of change

Hello Friends,
     It's ever so subtle, it is, this changing of the seasons here in the sunshine state, first a gentle cooling of the days, then a random cold night, followed by another sunshiney day. A scattering of fallen leaves crunching under your feet like pringle potato chips, the sun shining in that slightly brighter and different angle, this is the gentle days of autumn. I take moments to smell the clean smell of cooler air, to appreciate the remaining flowers and to remember that life's always changing! I don't want to miss anything!
  How about you, my friend, are you enjoying the changing of the seasons? Oh I do hope so, and speaking of changes, there have been a few made over at Raven, the gypsy women's house. You might recall that the last time we visited her, the house looked like this

 Well there have been a few changes, it seems Raven has been very busy indeed! She's wall papered the whole place and I must say, I think it looks so much better, what do you say? ( I just couldn't make peace with all that brown, just to dreary, even for an old servants house! ) Besides being a gypsy, Raven likes color!

 As you can see, Raven has filled up her home apothecary, with all of her special herbs and remedies, my goodness, I wonder what is in all those jars, eeks! I'm glad she knows what she's doing, otherwise it looks like it could be lethal ;-)   OK it's really just herbs from my own kitchen, so lethal might be a bit strong, ha ha. Oh and colored water with fake or dried plant material! I'm telling you in case you want to make some for your own doll house!

 OH Boy, the bedroom has changed completely, looks like Raven bought new furniture and got new bedding. It seems she's been out gathering flowers and herbs to dry, so pretty! I must say, I find these changes most pleasing, good job Raven, ( OK, I hated the way the bedroom was before, too hodge podge and not the way I wanted it to look at all, but after trial and error I'm finally happy with it! ) I think I found that balance between Rustic and pretty that I was hoping for . As you can see, my husband electrified it for me and now her candles give off such a nice glow in the evenings.

 Now the last time we saw the ressurection tree, it was a bit on the scrawney side as you might recall.
( Easter tree that you hang glass eggs on, hee hee, hence the name )

 So you can Imagine my surprise when I saw how it  had grown into this! WOW, that's quite a change, wouldn't you say?

I immediately questioned Raven to find out what she has been using on this tree to get these kind of results, she assures me it's nothing special, just this.............. 

 Ha Ha, Hee Hee, Oh Raven is such a funny girl sometimes! This is one of those chinese jade trees that my husband brought home from his auction house, just perfect for my purposes!
Well, that's all from Raven's house for the time being, but you all know by now, how naughty Celestine can be when left unattended, so let's just see what she's been up to, shall we?

 Uhmm, excuse me Celestine, but why are you digging through my purse?
Well to see how much money I have darling!
How much money YOU have Celestine?
Yes darling, how much money I have ( well silly me, I thought that was my money)

 Uh Celestine where are you going with those car keys and my, urrh.... YOUR money?
Well not too far on this amount darling, but maybe a little shopping, a pizza Yes? ( oooh, cheeky little devil ! )
Now let me get this straight, when it comes to cleaning up messes, that she made by the way, she says, no can do, because she is just a doll and dolls can't clean messes, but she intends to drive my car! OY VEY, does anybody else see the contradictions here?

Well, with that , I guess I better go, it seems I'm taking Celestine out tonight!!! ( well you didn't really think I was gonna let her drive, did ya? Ha!)

Till next time, love and blessings to you all,

Teresa and Celestine

The Whitman house

Hello Everybody,
   I hope all of you out there in blog land are doing well! Are you starting to pull out the fall decorations and savor the anticipation of the coming holidays yet? Well I'll be honest and tell you I haven't pulled out the decorations yet, but it doesn't mean I haven't been busy, you see there's a new house that has moved onto 214 Anniversary Dr. This house is done in a french chateau style and it belongs to Dr. Valentine's sister Sarah and her husband Joseph Whitman ( as in Whitman's sampler, think Valentines here, hee hee) and apparently there is a lot of money in confectionary because this place is a mansion!!
   My husband and I bought this amazing house at the same auction that the Valentines and Grandma and Grandpa Harts house came from, except this one came completely furnished with bespaq furniture and real crystal chandeliers and all the beautiful stuff that you just dream about buying when you go to the miniature store, but is just not in the budget! Whats more amazing is I got the whole house for the price of one of the chandeliers, WOW!! I think this was because it is a very large house and because everything was in disarray from being moved, but whatever the reason I'm so excited to get it!! So without further ado, let's have a look shall we?

 The house is about 4.5  Ft tall by 33 inches wide. It's slightly larger than the Valentines house.

 looks like they have a visitor! and the cats are soaking up some sun

 the whole thing is beautifully landscaped and is on a turn table

I added the gardener's wheel barrow to this side

 This is an overview of the whole thing. That's Sarah in the master bedroom, I added her from my stash, most of the dolls she had were resin figures and I don't like those because I can't pose them. I still have to get Joseph and the household staff dolls.

 That's Ruetter ( don't know if I spelled that right) porcelain on the table and it all came with the house and it's totally amazing that it didn't get lost or broken with the way everything was all over the place! Woops I need to hide that wire that's hanging down ;-)

 This is Alexandra, the Whitman's teenage daughter playing the harp, she came with the house.
it's not in this picture but there's now a tiny Whitman's sampler on that end table by the settee ;-)

 This is Joseph's library, I added the table cloth and the cake to the birthday scene by the settee in the corner, everything else came with the house.

 Master bedroom, I added some bedding

 Alexandra's bedroom, I added parasol and flower's in window. Love the hope chest!

 This is the baby and nannies room, I have the baby, but haven't named her yet, What do you think she should be named? I added bedding, the vase on the mantle and plant in window.

 everything in the kitchen came with the house, she had lot's of cute kitchen staff but all resin :-(
I need to be able to pose them for story telling which is half the fun for me!

 this is a servants room off the kitchen but I may eventually change this to a bathroom, since there isn't one in the house. I added the flower pot, clock, tea set and pillow on the bed.
Well that's the whole house for now, but of course there will be stories and updates to come!!
Now I better go check on Celestine because I have left her unattended way to long!! I hear her in the kitchen,

UM Celestine, what are you doing?

Well I am helping you cook darling, yes? 

But Celestine I already seasoned that chili!!

Don't worry, I make it better, you see.

OH Boy,

lets hope we can still eat it!

Till next time, love and blessings to you all,

Teresa and Celestine